Trip Help: 3-4 weeks in July
 

Hi!
I want to visit Europe in July/August for. 3-4 weeks. The 4 countries id like to visit are Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Denmark. I've never been to Europe and haven't had a vacation in a very long time. I'm a teacher, so I love learning new things and immersing myself in the culture . I enjoy the simple things, and am not looking for the nightlife

So... Flight: where should I fly into first? What's the best way to get to each country?

Sights: I'm a fan of exploring urban areas(big cities and also charming little towns) but also big on hiking and being out in nature. What are some of the best places to go to enjoy people and also the view?!

I think I'll just stop there and see what the responses are. Thank you! I appreciate the time and responses of others!

Well that is the best time of year for those locations - should not be hellishly hot. But you have picked 3 of the most expensive places in Europe - with Norway the most expensive.

Is budget an issue for you? It doesn't mean you can't go to these places but either you need to be sure your budget is large enough - or look at ways to cut costs. The Let's Go Europe student guides is a wonderful resource for living at a modest cost.

You have so many delightful options! and with 3 or 4 weeks, you should be able to plan a wonderful trip. :-)

That's the good news. The bad news is that you have a lot of painful choices ahead! :-( I recommend that you get some really good guidebooks (always a worth investment, IME) or check some at your local library. Let's Go might be a good starting point; I prefer the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet, which each provide very comprehensive coverage of your options to see and do things, and they do so without targeting the very lowest budget group (although they provide information of relevance to that group). Since you love learning things, you should have some great moments as you learn about your options and decide what you most want to see and do! You might also want to consult the Eyewitness Guides, Insight Guides, and National Geographic Traveler Guides, which provide lots of very high quality photographs for inspiration. And Fodor's, Frommer's, and the Michelin Green Guides are very helpful for prioritizing and deciding how much time to spend at various sites.

BTW, I encourage you to aim to think in terms of cities / towns, rather than countries.

Personally, I would wait to think about your flight options until you know more about your itinerary. The Rough Guide and Lonely Planet should each give you great information about your transportation options, both internationally and internationally. And IME, both of them provide good info about hikes and parks and nature as well as cities and towns.

Yes, the countries you mention are more expensive than some others, and they can be very difficult to visit on a shoestring. But there are a LOT of ways to keep costs down -- it really depends on exactly what you want to see and do and how tight your budget is.

Hope that helps!

Why places so spread apart - you could save time and money travelling if you chose one smaller area. Amsterdam would probably be the easiest place to fly to - but better if you can arrange an open jaw ticket so that you do not have to return there. The most logical would be to fly into Switzerland, travel to Netherlands, Denmark then fly out of Norway.
Are you going to travel by train or plane? Train is probably ok from Switzerland to Netherlands and then to Denmark. From Copenhagen there is an overnight ferry to Oslo. If you want to see the fjords take the Norway in a Nutshell tour (self guided tour on public transport) to Bergen - http://www.norwaynutshell.com/

In terms of thinking about cities, you need to think about them at least for transport hubs, however Norway is so much about the outside it requires some different thinking if you are going to see the country rather than the city.

For example; if you decide to hike or yomp over Hardanger Fjell then you could do it from a number of bases to a number of bases. Note that Norway also has the hutte system which allows people to travel over the country and find cheap accomodation all over the place. Hutte are huts, anything from a garden shed to a mansion, often is small groups with a small campsite shop (for basics) and they crop up where travellers will want them. Normally spotlessly clean you can make a very expensive country only moderatly expensive if you do what locals do and use them.

You will find, outside the cities that English is still not spoken by the older crowd. But if using tourist facilities don't worry.

Denmark, has some fantastic train routes so you can get out into the country, while famously flat, the island of Tasinge is known as a beautiful place.

Copenhagen operates very much an out door cafe society, people chat and you may find the local bike culture is worth enjoying.

There are terrific hiking opportunities in the Swiss Bernese Oberland region (the area around Interlaken). The area has knock-out mountain scenery and trails for all difficulty levels. Wengen, Murren, and Gimmelwald are small traffic-free towns in the middle of it all. From there you can make a day-trip to Bern, the Swiss capital with a well-preserved medieval center and a great Einstein museum.

@dyoll I've chosen two of the places based on connection. I met people from Switzerland during university and they've come to visit a few times over the years. It's way passed due I go visit them. So I guess Switzerland I really don't need info on too much because the people I know there will host me.

Norway is my moms bloodline. I've always wanted to venture where I know "half" of me is from....

As for Netherlands/Denmark I've just heard amazing night beautiful things in both cities. They are not total necessities. Norway is #1 and Switzerland is #2.... An in between would be great but should I just do those two? Maybe Switzerland through Germany and then flight to Norway? I know a few people in Germany as well that would host me for sure.

Lucky me I choose countries that are expensive:/. Switzerland I wouldn't worry about. But I get everyone's points.

I will definitely look at the guides a few of you have mentioned and post again! If any of you have more input please let me know!

Like for example...what would be the best time to buy a flight. I know sooner is better but is there a "too soon"? Thanks!

"Like for example...what would be the best time to buy a flight. I know sooner is better but is there a "too soon"?"

From my perspective, buying a flight before one decides which cities to visit is too soon. WAY too soon. JMO

I try to buy my flights about 3-4 months in advance, prices can really go up very close to departure. But there is no need at all to buy one 9 months or more in advance. Lostically, it seems to make sense to fly into Norway, go to Denmark, then Netherlands, then Switzerland, that just seems clear from a map. Or the reverse direction, starting in Switzerland.

But that would be if you were taking the train. it still wouldn't make sense to go to Norway, then Switzerland, than Denmark, etc. But depending on airfare, it would be possible to fly into Denmark, take the train to Norway (or ferries in some places, I believe) then fly to Switzerland, and take the train to Netherlands. That could possibly be efficient. For example, SAS or Swiss airlines have pretty cheap one-way flights from Oslo to Zurich (US$150 or less), and that only take a couple hours.

"bloodline" lovely concept. :-)

Norway - Denmark is not too hard, as there are ferries between Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Denmark (or German Kiel, that has a good train service that ends up in the Netherlands) If you orient yourself around the "Nordic Rim", Switzerland is the outlying location, warranting a flight. I would take this flight from Amsterdam, which has the best connections. Going by high speed train from Amsterdam to Switzerland is also perfectly viable.

My itinerary would then be: fly into Oslo, do the Norway things ending up in Bergen or Stavanger, take the ferry across to Denmark, leave from Copenhagen to The Netherlands (takes a day by train, or fly) and fly or train from Amsterdam to Switzerland: Geneva or Zürich. Of course, if you have 4 weeks, all this moving around leaves you with little time to explore. In total, you'll have a minimum of 5 travel days, so if you can spare 3 weeks, you're already 5 days down, at 15 days effective time. Norway and Denmark are pretty large countries, so you'll be doing a lot of traveling there too, just to get to the places you want to be. I'd advise to drop a destination, or maybe even two.